Friday, September 18, 2009

On supporting the troops

Aftersnark: Let's be clear -- I'm not trying to use a dead soldier's (reported) words to bolster the case against Afghanistan; the issue will not be decided based on celebrity gotcha quotes and individual opinions.

But for years I've been told that if I didn't support the mission in Afghanistan -- if I even questioned that mission -- I didn't support the troops. I think we can finally shitcan that line of reasoning now, can't we?CC here, with a postscript for readers popping over here via Patrick Ross' "Nexus of Assholery" blog: I figure it's worth pointing out that Mr. Ross has, once again, produced a howler of a dishonest piece criticising me for this post since, as you can see below, I am not even the author. Mr. Ross is well aware of this, and yet has produced not a hint or correction, retraction or apology anywhere in the body of his original post. You have to read his comments section to notice that he finally admits this, but there is no trace of his admission of dishonesty anywhere in that post itself.

Such is the perpetual dishonesty of Mr. Ross. But I'm sure you'd already noticed that.

But I guess the question Canadians should be asking at this point is, "Why Afghanistan"?

You're not allowed to ask that. Only military personnel are. Your duty is to open your wallet, pay for it and be forever grateful that someone else is defending your way of life. I hope you understand that.

Just look at the meaning of his name:A couturier is a person involved in the clothing fashion industry who makes original garments to order for private clients.In other words a limp wristed lily livered coward. No wonder he was killed, he was too stupid, being a lefty and all.

The stupid just does not stop around now days now does it?Good to see you back, stupid.

Fact is, a soldier's opinion of the war is irrelevant. But we hear endless demands that any political dissent here is somehow not supporting the troops. We are told to assume all the troops support the government's view of the mission, ignoring the fact that following orders is the job of the troops. We hear endless bleating about "not caring about the troops" if we dare to say the government is botching the whole thing badly.

Now with this soldier's family saying he thought the war was useless, we can see that the troops are just like two thirds of the rest of us, who believe this mission is being mismanaged by our current government.

You may find a variety of views on the merits of this mission here, but you will find we are together on the fact that the Harper regime is making a mess of it.